Blue Tractor

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Most brewpubs are modeled after British pubs, and they serve what many Americans—either overtly or secretly—think of as warm beer. The fruity ales favored by Grizzly Peak and Arbor Brewing Company need that mellower temperature to bring out the complex flavors. The Blue Tractor, though, specializes in hoppier, more astringent lagers and pilsners. Manager Dan Glazer is serving these handcrafted American-style brews at around thirty-eight degrees, several degrees cooler than at its cousin Grizzly Peak. The menu pays homage to American rural classics that go well with cold beer—Carolina pulled pork, smoked beef brisket, braised short ribs.

Such an earnest effort to re-create the good old days in a form that’s actually better than they ever were to begin with can mean only one thing: 2mission is on the job again. Greg Lobdell and Jon Carlson are the green-thinking, community-minded developers behind the company that has played a large role in the last decade of downtown redevelopment in Royal Oak, Traverse City, and Ann Arbor. Now all three cities have a Cafe Habana. Traverse City also has a Blue Tractor. The 2mission flagship in Ann Arbor is the Grizzly Peak, and 2mission owns pieces of many other projects in the three cities.